Dispersal failure contributes to plant losses in NW Europe

• Published in: Ecology letters 2009-01, Vol.12 (1), p.66-74
• Main Authors: Ozinga, Wim A., Römermann, Christine, Bekker, Renée M., Prinzing, Andreas, Tamis, Wil L. M., Schaminée, Joop H. J., Hennekens, Stephan M., Thompson, Ken, Poschlod, Peter, Kleyer, Michael, Bakker, Jan P., Van Groenendael, Jan M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Biodiversity; Biological and medical sciences; Botany; Colonization deficit; communities; Conservation; Conservation of Natural Resources - methods; Continental interfaces, environment; Demography; Dispersal; dispersal infrastructure; dispersal vectors; dispersie; dispersion; diversity; diversity loss; Ecology; Ecosystem; environmental-conditions; Europe; eutrophication; extinction; fragmentation; functional traits; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; General aspects; land-use changes; landscape; life-history traits; Logistic Models; Nitrogen - metabolism; noordwest-europa; northwestern europe; plant communities; Plant Ecology; Plantenecologie; plantengemeenschappen; Plants; Population Dynamics; Regions; Reproduction - physiology; Sciences of the Universe; Seeds - physiology; species richness; vegetatietypen; vegetation types
• ISSN: 1461-023X; 1461-0248
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2008.01261.x

The ongoing decline of many plant species in Northwest Europe indicates that traditional conservation measures to improve the habitat quality, although useful, are not enough to halt diversity losses. Using recent databases, we show for the first time that differences between species in adaptations to various dispersal vectors, in combination with changes in the availability of these vectors, contribute significantly to explaining losses in plant diversity in Northwest Europe in the 20th century. Species with water‐ or fur‐assisted dispersal are over‐represented among declining species, while others (wind‐ or bird‐assisted dispersal) are under‐represented. Our analysis indicates that the ‘colonization deficit’ due to a degraded dispersal infrastructure is no less important in explaining plant diversity losses than the more commonly accepted effect of eutrophication and associated niche‐based processes. Our findings call for measures that aim to restore the dispersal infrastructure across entire regions and that go beyond current conservation practices.